Thank You Roman

Hello everybody here at Wrestle Royalty, this is Sovereign S.A.M. and this is the very first edition of A Sovereign Statement. Baron Botch has allowed me to do the Raw blog and I only hope to do it justice. This week’s Raw was very heavy so without further ado, let’s do this.

Thank You Roman.

There is no way I could ever give this a rating. It breaks my heart to learn the news that Roman Reigns has leukemia and has had it since he was 22 years old. He was able to battle it into remission for 11 years, but it has resurfaced, and he will have to step away from WWE in order to get treatment and be with his family. Cancer can be beaten, as he stated during this this, and it is something that almost everybody has had some sort of encounter with. Whether it be a family member, friend, work colleague, etc., this disease affects everybody. I myself have lost a family member to cancer 5 years ago and it pained me then and still pains me now. Dean and Seth joined him at the top of the ramp before he went to the back and the three embraced each other. Seth was crying his eyes out and you could see that Dean had been crying and what trying to hold it together for this moment. I would be lying if I said I didn’t shed a tear or two during this and I know we all here at Wrestle Royalty are giving our thoughts and prayers and everything in between to Joe, Roman’s real name, in his battle with leukemia and that he is able to beat this. #ThankYouRoman

Renee, Cole & Graves

Normally, I wouldn’t talk about a segment on announce, but I feel as though I must make an exception. Like when Jerry Lawler had his heart attack, Michael Cole showed his professionalism and how he can keep it together when something tragic happens. Cole may have his detractors, I have been one at times, but he shows that he can handle anything. Renee did a great job here as well holding back her tears and giving her well wishes to Roman. Corey did the same and I give major props to all three for being able to continue with the show given Roman’s announcement. Again, no rating for this but deserves a mention.

Balor Club vs Lash-ley! Lash-ley! Lash-ley!

This match was set up last week when Lashely and Lio Rush interrupted a backstage interview with Finn Balor. Finn has been floundering for a while now and this could be a feud that can set him on the right track again. So long as this is not just to further the new Lashley/Rush combo and leave Finn behind. Lio did his best to hype up Lashley prior to him making his entrance and I think he is improving with that each week. I think Lio is starting to get the hang of being Lashley’s manager more and more and I believe he can be one of the best at it if they let him continue to grow in the role. This was a pretty good match that saw Finn win with a roll up and I was fine with it. That type of finish is used to further the feud and this one is far from done and I look forward to seeing where this can go from here.

Dolph & McIntyre Backstage

This was a nice backstage segment between these two. They keep furthering that they are done with Braun and seems like that is the direction they will be going. I did get the feeling that Drew may be ready to dump Dolph but time will tell.

Sasha Banks vs Ruby Riott

It was announced that the Riott Squad will take on the team of Natalya, Sasha Banks & Bayley at Evolution and I think that can be a fun match. Now onto the match and this was pretty good. Ruby and Sasha are two of the absolute best on the women’s roster and they showed a bit here why. These two have good chemistry with one another and I would love a future Women’s title feud between them because I think that could be money. The Riott Squad tried to interfere but Nattie and Bayley made sure they didn’t, but Ruby was still able to pick up the win.

Brothers of Destruction Promo Replay

Well they said a lot of words, but I just simply cannot find it in me to care. I haven’t cared since this feud started and nothing they have done has made me care since.

DX Promo

Again, they said some things, but I don’t care. It has been some time since I have truly checked out of something WWE has done in quite some time. They are trying to sell me this nostalgia juice, but I ain’t buying it one bit. Kane and Undertaker came on the tron to talk, but I just don’t care. Nothing about this feud has me anticipating the next part of it.

Paul Heyman Promo

Paul started this promo tonight by addressing what Roman said at the top of the show and it was nothing short of perfect. He painted a great picture of Roman as Joe and not Roman Reigns. He gave him all the props in the world and then some. WWE posted a video of Roman when he entered Guerrilla position after he delivered his news and Heyman was one of the ones back there to embrace Roman and give him words of encouragement. I highly recommend checking it out. Heyman seamlessly transitioned to hyping up the match at Crown Jewel that is now Lesnar vs Strowman for the vacant Universal Title and he did well there too in hyping up the match. When Heyman speaks, you just want to listen and that is quite the gift. Strowman came out to interrupt and he said some kind words about Roman as well. He did speed through his lines, so I wonder if the news really had an effect on him. Drew came down the ramp and hit Strowman with a beautiful Claymore from out of nowhere and it does look like Strowman vs McIntyre is looming.

McIntyre & Dolph Backstage

Another good backstage segment with these two and McIntyre looks primed for greatness. He has improved leaps and bounds and he is someone who will become Universal champion sooner than later.

Elias vs Apollo

Prior to their match, Elias was in the ring for his usual in-ring segment and it was money as usual. I did notice he didn’t really say anything about Rhode Island so that should have been a clue as to what would happen later. These two had a fun match and Apollo is so underrated in the ring. I do say underrated because he hasn’t been given much of a chance so far but when he gets the chance, he shines. Elias is good in the ring too and it was no surprise that he went over here.

Kurt Angle and the World Cup

Honestly, I do not have much interest in the WWE World Cup. Like I have said previously, this was a huge missed opportunity by WWE to feature talent from around the globe in a network special and instead we got this. I have no doubt there can be good matches from this, but I won’t hold my breath. I expect one of the older, veteran WWE superstars to win this and that has me feeling quite meh.

Elias and the acting GM Baron Corbin

Right when it looked like we were about to get another Elias segment, out came Baron Corbin to shut it down. He flaunted his power and told Elias that he would fire him if it wasn’t for Commissioner Stephanie McMahon being a fan of his. He kept telling Elias to just go to the back, but Elias performed a song anyways and it was aimed towards the acting GM of Raw. Corbin cut Elias’ mic and guitar and sent him on his way to the back. Or so we thought as Elias would come back and smash his guitar across the back of Corbin. This could have been a face turn for Elias and if it was, I am all for it.

Raw Women’s Championship Contract Signing

In no way did I think this feud would be carried by Ronda Rousey and that is a pleasant surprise. Ronda been better on the mic in the promos leading up to this and she did it again tonight. I am not the biggest Bellas fan if I were to be honest, so I still am not expecting much from this match when is happens this Sunday. There was a nice back and forth between both sides and to my surprise, no attacks and this contract signing went as smooth as they come. I also have to acknowledge that I did say it would be funny to see how the internet would explode if Nikki beats Ronda and I must say the closer we get to Evolution, the more I have feeling in my gut that WWE may just do that…

Seth & Dean Backstage

You can just see the pain these two had on their faces in finding out the news that Roman is battling leukemia and they both did their best to keep it together during this. They dedicated their tag title match to him and quite honestly, nothing I say can do this justice. You could just feel their emotion come through the screen and this was quite something.

Ember vs Nia vs Dana vs Tamina

This match felt like filler to me and there was nothing that really happened either. I do not know if Roman coming out to make his announcement took time away from this match or not, but this was a quick one that saw Ember Moon pick up the victory with her Eclipse. This match was done to hype up the battle royal at Evolution so not much here really.

Breast Cancer Awareness Segment

Titus was out this week for WWE’s Susan G. Komen segment and he showed why he is a great ambassador for the company. I normally don’t write about this, but given the announcement earlier, I just had to touch on this. Seeing 6 women who have overcome cancer to be on that stage is an amazing sight. Titus was the perfect person for this and my hat is off to those women.

Lita and Trish Stratus Backstage

This was a fun backstage segment, but truth be told, it felt a bit flat to me. Alicia Fox being the one to interrupt Lita and Trish feels random, but given the news of Alexa being hurt, it doesn’t surprise me. I think Alicia may be the back-up plan for WWE if Alexa is unable to perform at Evolution, so this makes sense in that regard. Mickie came from out of nowhere to sneak attack both hall of famers and this lead to a brawl between all four women. It was fun, but just fell flat to me.

Raw Tag Team Title Match

When you have four individuals as talented as these four men, you are bound to have something great. From Seth having a vest on as a clear tribute to Roman, to Dean prior to match having to keep his emotions in check so they didn’t spill over to the match, to Dolph doing what he does, and Drew showing how much he has grown; this match had it all. This was quite the awesome main event and one of the best Raw has produced all year. There isn’t much I want to say about the match other than I highly recommend checking it out because it is that good. Seth and Dean won the match and the tag titles, and you could feel the emotion pour from them and the crowd as they celebrated.

Then came a turn that I did not think they were going to do and Dean hit a Dirty Deeds on Seth and would attack him after the match. Announce and the crowd at the arena were in shock and I was right there with them. This turn was done beautifully, and it gave me flashbacks to DIY’s break-up when Ciampa turned on Gargano. Dean threw the tag titles at Seth when he was laying down on the ground outside the ring and pulled the protective padding on the floor to deliver another Dirty Deeds to Seth. This was executed perfectly, and I cannot wait to see where they go from here.

Final Thoughts

This week’s Raw was actually pretty darn good and had one of the best endings to a Raw I have seen all year. Solid matches and segments happened throughout the show and I didn’t feel any lag during it one bit as I usually do. My heart goes out to Roman and his family during this time as he battles leukemia. Cancer is something I hope to one day see a cure found for because it is such a terrible disease. #ThankYouRoman.

What a great episode of “Raw” this was! There were only a couple of ridiculous matches. The rest was really good and the storytelling in a couple of instances was sheer perfection! WrestleMania is shaping […]